Mon 9Sep 2013

North Korea celebrates establishment anniversary

The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea celebrates the anniversary of its establishment in 1948.

Following the end of the World War II, the Korean peninsula previously occupied by Japan was divided into two occupied zones. The northern half was administered by the Soviet Union and the southern one by the United States.

The hopes of creating a unified, independent Korean were shattered by the politics of the Cold War, which in 1948 led to establishment of two separate nations with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems.

The first North Korean leader became then-Premier Kim Il-sung, who was supported by the Soviet Union. The Eternal President initiated the country's Juche ideology of self-reliance as well as "military-first" policy in order to make the country and its government more powerful.

At present, North Korea is described as a totalitarian dictatorship with strong cult of personality around the Kim family and on the world's lowest-ranking human records.